be closing in fifteen minutes. “Bring your purchases to the front of the store, please.”
Evidently she was the last remaining person in the store, because no one else was pushing a cart toward one of the three cashiers. Bonnie unloaded her cart onto the conveyor belt and then stuck the ranch credit card into the machine to pay for everything.
“Been a long day,” she said in way of conversation.
“Yep, and I can’t wait to get home, get my boots on, and go to the Sugar Shack for some excitement,” the woman said. “The place don’t get hoppin’ until about nine, so I’ll get there at just about the right time.”
Bonnie just nodded. No way did she have enough energy to go to the Sugar Shack this evening, and besides, the last time she had gone there, she had had Shiloh with her. Going alone just didn’t sound like much fun.
On the trip back down into the canyon, her thoughts went back to the Malloy Ranch again. “I’ve got to get away from the forest so I can see the trees, as Mama used to tell me when I was fretting about something. Maybe I will go to the Sugar Shack, have a beer, do a little line dancing, and not think about anything but having a good time.”
Now that’s my girl. That pesky voice that sounded like her mother’s was back.
“You’ve always put having a good time ahead of everything else,” Bonnie muttered as she turned off the highway and down the lane to the ranch. She just shook her head when she passed the cemetery where Ezra was buried. “How on earth the two of you ever got together is a mystery that I’ll probably never understand.”
She parked her truck and unloaded the groceries. The dogs were all waiting on the front porch, so she promised them that she’d bring out a surprise in a few minutes as she headed into the house. She put away the perishables, kicked off her shoes, and put on her only pair of cowboy boots. When she’d tucked the legs of her jeans down into them, she picked up a package wrapped in white butcher paper and took three big soup bones out to the dogs.
“See, I didn’t forget you ladies,” she said. “Y’all are welcome to carry these back to the bunkhouse. Rusty might even let you bring them inside if you promise to keep them on the floor.”
She balled up the butcher paper and threw it into the bed of her beat-up truck. Then she got behind the wheel and headed back down the lane, made a right-hand turn out onto the highway, and traveled a few miles before making another turn. The Sugar Shack was in an old wooden building with a wide front porch, and the whole place looked like it had been sprayed down with that pink medicine Bonnie’s mama had given her for a stomachache when she was a little girl. She could hear the jukebox music blasting away before she even got out of her vehicle. Tips of cigarettes flared red as a row of cowboys leaned against the front of the building and sucked in a drag.
She walked through a haze of smoke on the way into the bar and got a few catcalls and offers from guys who were willing to put out their cigarettes if she’d dance with them. She’d grown up around folks a lot rougher than these cowboys, so she just ignored them, paid her cover fee, and went inside. Most of the place was dimly lit, but the bar area was at least semibright. She located an empty barstool and slid onto it, not paying a bit of attention to who was sitting in the one right next to her.
“What are you doin’ here?” Rusty asked.
“I decided that I’ve been thinkin’ about serious things way too much. I just need to have some fun, so here I am.” She motioned for the bartender to bring her a beer. “What about you? You lookin’ to get lucky tonight?” Saying the words caused a shot of jealousy to shoot through her heart.
“Maybe,” he answered. “Are you?”
“Never know what beer and dancing might cause,” she answered with a shrug.
The bartender brought her beer, and she tipped up the bottle and took a long drink.
A good-looking dark-haired cowboy tapped her on the shoulder. When she looked up, she recognized him as one of the guys who worked over on her brother-in-law’s ranch.